The Hot List: Our favorite SF restaurants and bars right now

For anyone prepared to ask us, “Where should I eat tonight?” here’s our answer: the Hot List, our opinionated guide to the top restaurants and bars in San Francisco right now. Some of the picks are new and noteworthy; others are rediscovered favorites. All are worth your while, whether for a bowl of comforting stew or a plate of com tam, the iconic Vietnamese street food. We’ll update the list at the top of every month.

For more restaurant recommendations, check out our series Eat Here Now. 

Looking for a steal? Try the $25 Diner.

And if you’re ready to raise a glass, let Swig City be your guide.

Not your average pho joint
This casual noodle house across from the L Taraval stop might look like an average Vietnamese restaurant. The 123-item menu has the usual suspects, from green papaya salad to crispy imperial rolls. But the real secret is the aromatic squab, fried till delicately crisp — a perfectly unctuous little pigeon you just want to gnaw on — served with golden raisins and onions sauteed in butter for a little French influence. Another showstopper is the pho with an entire beef rib protruding out. But it’s the broth that tells the tale: clean and beefy, without cloying flavors. How to eat it is the real quandary — there’s no delicate way to go about it.

Fresh oysters and exquisite cocktails from a beloved bartender
There’s no shortage of hotel bar options around Union Square. But only one is home to one of the city’s most beloved bartenders, Larry Piaskowy. At this new, nautically inspired watering hole tucked inside the Palihotel, Piaskowy serves briny martinis and an excellent pineapple- and coconut-spiked milk punch inspired by a piña colada. To complement the drinks, former Monsieur Benjamin chef de cuisine George Dingle put together a seafood-focused menu of small plates. 

A super lacy patty
The food court adjacent to Ikea on Market Street may have initially been positioned as a vegan paradise, but apparently even plant-based institutions can’t resist the siren call of a smashburger. In January, cow-centric Smish Smash opened at Saluhall, serving its popular 4-ounce, paper-thin, lacy patties between a properly squishy potato bun, along with beef tallow fries. Smish Smash, which started in 2020 as a popular pop-up, has accepted this brick-and-mortar space as a temporary residency, but we hope they get to settle in.

A sprawling sports bar unlike anything else in town 
Now that this two-story sports bar has opened, the best seats in the house for watching a Warriors game might not even be in “the house.” Located at Thrive City, just outside Chase Center, Splash feels like a Vegas-style sports palace, with a golf simulator, crawling display of scores, and 75 screens, one of which might be the biggest in the city. The elevated cocktails come from mixologist Kevin Diedrich (Pacific Cocktail Haven, Kona’s Street Market) and pair perfectly with a menu of fancy bar fare, including nachos, popcorn chicken, California rolls, smashburgers, and a $36 New York strip steak.

A hidden oasis in the heart of Jackson Square 
Just a few months after closing their full-service restaurant on Columbus Street, Cassava owners Yuka Ioroi and Kristoffer Toliao are back with a petite cafe in Jackson Square. The new Cassava is hidden inside an office building, down a long breezeway surrounded by brick walls. It’s a quiet oasis of warm, honey-spiced lattes and uncommon grab-and-go lunch options, including Spam-and-egg onigirazu and rice smothered in comforting tomato curry-spiced gravy with cabbage and tender chunks of carrot.

Exxx-cellent cocktails made for Simpsons super fans
You don’t have to know who Hank Scorpio and Guy Incognito are to have a good time at Moe’z Tavern, the Simpsons-themed pop-up bar near Union Square. But it helps. The spirit-forward cocktail bar quietly opened late last month, bringing a piece of Springfield to life. There’s a replica of the Simpsons’ living room, pics of Krusty the Klown, and cocktails straight out of the show, including the Flaming Moe, an ode to the purple concoction surly barkeep Moe Szyslak stole from Homer and served to the members of Aerosmith way back in Season 3. The owners don’t know how long Moe’z will last, so check it out while you can.

Some of the city’s most exciting — and fleeting — food 
Spencer Horovitz’s Hadeem is the hottest pop-up in town, thanks in part to the James Beard Foundation, which named him among the country’s top emerging chefs. Specializing in Jewish cuisine with a modern, California spin, Hadeem has been appearing all over town and has upcoming events at Itria (March 13-14), the Anchovy Bar (March 25-26), and Rich Table (April 8-9). Start with his signature dolmas and save room for whatever version of babka he’ll have available for dessert. 

Eastern European cuisine from a restaurant vet
Hospitality and wine pro Maz Naba spent two decades working in some of San Francisco’s top restaurants. But his California-Lebanese pop-up Ilna brings his culinary chops into the spotlight for the first time. Find him at Buddy, a bar in the Mission, on Sunday nights, dusting kampachi with sumac furikake and stuffing roasted squash with Dungeness crab fried rice. He bakes his own bread and cures his own prosciutto, which gets infused with Eastern European flavors, including cardamom and clove. Pop-ups can be a gamble, but Ilna is a safe bet.

The Outer Richmond’s buzzy wine bar
If you haven’t heard, the Outer Richmond is the place to be. Well, at least if you’re at Rampant Wine Co., which opened in the fall. The friendly bar and bottle shop offers 16 thoughtfully curated by-the-glass selections of natural wines, as well as snacks like charcuterie, tinned fish, and hummus with pita. Follow the bar on Instagram for pop-ups and special evenings with visiting winemakers. With patrons sporting dad caps and mustaches, it could be in Bushwick, but it’s on Balboa Street, and owners Charlie O’Leary and Jack Pain, who live in the hood, fit right in themselves. 

A simple breakfast with an amazing view
Alfred Schilling was once the “chocolate king” of San Francisco. Now, after a brief retirement, he’s back in action as the chef at the Seal Rock Inn Restaurant. Perched above the Pacific at Land’s End, Seal Rock serves simple breakfast and lunch menus with a Gallic twist, including custardy French toast, hearty mushroom tartines, and housemade sausage patties studded with coriander. The entire menu is affordable, but the views of the cypress trees and blue-grey ocean beyond are priceless.

A fresh take on fusion
Argentine and Italian might not seem like an obvious combo, but the Marina restaurant Morella knows its roots. From the late 1800s through the 1930s, millions of Italians immigrated to Argentina, resulting in mash-ups like sorrentinos. Chef Jesus Dominguez adds Dungeness crab to the stuffed pasta dish, for an unexpected local twist to what is already a multinational affair. This type of fusion is a new flavor for San Francisco, and one that is well worth exploring.   

The best baklava this side of Turkey
Sometimes you just stumble upon something special. Such is the case with this baklava-only bakery on the cusp of the Mission. Owner Tolgay Karabulut, who was born in Turkey, does everything to the max: returning to his home country to harvest young pistachios (the only other flavor he sells is walnut), making butter from sheep’s milk provided by his uncle’s dairy, sheeting the phyllo in-house. The result is baklava that’s light and crisp and tastes like the love that goes into it. 

Comforting plates of broken rice
Husband-and-wife owners Scott Satoru Kimura and Truong Anh Thu Do dreamed for years of having a restaurant before opening Bee’s in October. It specializes in com tam, or Vietnamese broken rice, a humble dish of grilled chicken or pork served with fluffy broken rice grains. Bee’s enormous plates come with sliced cucumber and tomato; dochua, a salad of pickled carrots and daikon; cha trung, an omelet studded with rice noodles, wood ear mushrooms, and carrots; and a bowl of steaming vegetable broth. It’s a filling meal for one or a great entree to share after an appetizer of sweet and spicy chicken wings. 

A bubbling hot spot for dinner before a show
The first point of sale at this Yemeni restaurant should be the lamb saltah ($18), a comforting, delicious stew that arrives bubbling hot and topped with a bitter fenugreek foam. The dish is a part of Yemen’s culinary soul and requires scooping with an order of house-made flatbread pulled from the clay oven. Also try the Yemeni kebab, made from ground beef and lamb aromatic with cumin. Located across from The Warfield, this spot makes for the perfect combo of a show and a cheap and cheerful dinner.